The housekeeper's guide to preserved meats, fruits, vegetables, &c

The mixture can be placed in small scallop shells and breadcrumbs shaken over the top ; the whole can then be baked in the oven. When the mixture is eaten in this way it would be as well to add little pieces of butter, which can be placed on the top of the breadcrumbs when put in the oven. Another improvement is to put into the mixture before filling the pate cases one or two yolks of eggs. This of course imparts a richer colour, but care should be taken not to let the mixture boil after the eggs are added, or it will either set or curdle. In making oyster soup from fresh oysters cooks would do well to employ the assistanee of a tin of oysters, thereby saving a great deal of expense, as they will require far fewer oysters. Take say a dozen fresh oysters. As Blue Points can now be obtained at any rate at one shilling a dozen, if the soup is made from them it will not be so expensive. I would remind housekeepers that these Blue Point oysters are quite as good for cooking purposes as natives themselves, though of course very inferior when eaten raw. Buy a dozen Blue Point oysters and save as much as possible of the liquor which they contain. tain. _ Next open a tin of oysters, pour the liquor from the tin into a small saucepan, and add to it the liquor from tlie fresh oysters. Then take the twelve Blue Points, throw them into the liquor, and put the saucepan on the fire. A fierce fire is the best. Watch them carefully, and the instant the liquor begins to boil take the saucepan off. The oysters are now what is known as “blanched.” Unless this is done they will be flabby when in the soup. It is of very great consequence indeed not to over-heat the oysters. When oysters are exposed to very great heat they become tough. This is the cause of tinned oysters being so indigestible. Now let the cook rub the whole of the tinned oysters with the liquor through a wire sieve. Add this liquor to a little stock and a pint of boiling milk. Of course if a little cream can be obtained it is a very great improvement. I have before called attention to the fact that anchovy sauce possesses the property of bringing out the flavour of other materials. I would strongly urge on the cook the importance of tasting the soup in its present state. We have now got the oyster liquor and the tinned oysters rubbed through a sieve, the stock, and the boiling milk or cream. Add a couple of spoonfuls of anchovy sauce. The" difference in the taste will then be something marvellous. This addition of the anchovy sauce seems to have the effect of multiplying the number of oysters used by ten. The soup should be thickened with a little butter and flour. In thickening soup with butter and flour the cook should always melt the butter in the oven and mix the flour well in before it is added to the soup. When this is done the soup will never become lumpy. There is no occasion for the soup to be skimmed, as a little butter is an improvement rather than otherwise. Next place the blanched fresh oysters in a soup-tureen previously made hot, and pour the nearly-boiling soup on them and serve. Do not add the oysters to the soup in the saucepan, but add the soup to the oysters in the tureen, 'otherwise the oysters will be hard.